Staff Profile

I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Economics at Newcastle University Business School. I am also the Research Lead for the Economics Subject Group since autumn 2020. I am a Research Affiliate at Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) and a Fellow at Global Labor Organization (GLO). During 2015-2018, I was a Research Fellow at United Nations University's World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland.

My fields of specialization are development economics, labour economics, and behavioural economics. Within these fields, I have three areas of interest: (i) education, skills and labour markets; (ii) political economy of development; and (iii) caste and gender-based disadvantage and discrimination. I use both observational and experimental data in my research. My work focuses mainly on India and Vietnam. 

I am currently engaged on 3 funded projects: "Living Deltas" Hub funded by the UKRI GCRF (2019-23), "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Vocational Education in Vietnam" funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2020-23) and "Empowering Women's Craft Collectives in Rajasthan, India" funded by 3ie and Gates Foundation (2021-24). 

Link to my CV

Educational qualifications

Ph.D Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, 2015

M.A. Economics, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, 2008

B.A. Economics, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi, 2006

Prospective PhD students: I am happy to supervise students in my areas of interest. Please drop me an email if you are interested in being supervised by me. 

Working papers

Social Identity, Behavior and Personality: Evidence from India, IZA DP 13515 (with Utteeyo Dasgupta, Subha Mani & Saurabh Singhal) [download] [R&R at Journal of Development Studies]

The Power to Choose: Gender Balance of Power and Intra-household Educational Spending in India, UNU-WIDER Working Paper 61/2016 (with Christophe J. Nordman) [download]

        In the media: Business Standard

Disadvantage and Discrimination in Self-employment and Entrepreneurship (invited for the Handbook of Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action, edited by Ashwini Deshpande) [email me for a draft] 

Crime and Human Capital in India (with Naveen Sunder) [email me for a draft] 

Selected works-in-progress

 

Productivity Shocks and Firm Performance (with Finn Tarp)

Corruption and Natural Disasters (with Heidi Kaila, Irene Mussio and Saurabh Singhal)

Caste and Firm Survival (with Ashwini Deshpande and Jitendra Singh)

Weather Shocks and Early Childhood Health: Evidence from Guyana (with Nichola Williams and Sara Maioli)

A Risk-Risk Trade-off Assessment of Climate Hazards in India (with Susan Chilton, Darren Duxbury, Irene Mussio and Jytte Seested Nielsen)

COVID-19 and Preferences for Equality in Vietnam (with Minh Chau Tran, Saurabh Singhal and Finn Tarp)

A Cross-Cultural Study on Prosocial Punishment and the Enforcement of Norms within Human Societies: Evidence from UK and India (with Kenju Kamei and Matt Walker)

 

Blogs/interviews/book reviews

The forgotten psychological cost of corruption in developing countries. The Conversation UK, 14 May 2021

Rank and peer effects in higher education: Evidence from India. VoxDev, 12 March 2021

Caste gaps in behaviour and personality traits: A study of university students. Ideas for India, 4 December 2020 (also published in the Hindi section of Ideas for India on 5 February 2021)

Are employees in Vietnamese SMEs compensated for working in unfavourable conditions? UNU-WIDER Research Brief, October 2020

To compete or not to compete? Newcastle University REACH magazine, Spring 2020

Moving out of identity silos and into intersectionality: The example of gender identity. EADI Blog, 29 May 2019

Gods and Rupees, book review of The Economics of Religion in India by Sriya Iyer, Books and Ideas, 16 May 2019 

The Conspicuous Absence of Women in India's Labour Force, The Conversation UK, 15 May 2019 (republished in Business Standard, Independent, ThePrint, and Asian Age)

An Interview on Lessons from UNU-WIDER's Gender Research, VoxEU.org, July 2018 (video)

Panel on Girls’ Education Research and Policy Symposium: Reaching the Most Marginalized at Brookings Institution, DC, 8 November 2017 (video)

 

Peer Influence and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Delhi University Colleges, Ideas for India, 7 November 2017 (reprinted in WIDERAngle blog)

 

Educating India's Dalit Children Can Change the Discourse Around Caste, NewsDeeply, 6 September 2017

 

Achieving Gender Equality in India: What Works, and What doesn't, The Conversation Global, 8 November 2016 (republished in The Huffington Post)

 

An Interview on Gender Discrimination and Violence, Econ Films, September 2016 (video)

 

Entrepreneurship or Survival? Caste and Gender of Small Business in India, Ideas for India, 23 September 2013 (republished in Live Mint)

 

Media coverage of my research

Economics Digest, LiveMint, 10 February 2018

What Lies Behind the Spurt in Anti-Dalit Crimes in India?, LiveMint, 10 January 2018

The Ugly Reality of Caste Violence and Discrimination in Urban India, The Wire, 11 December 2017

The Many Shades of Caste Inequality in India, LiveMint, 18 October 2016

The Way Forward for Dalit Capitalism, LiveMint, 19 August 2016

How the Socioeconomic Fabric has Changed, Business Standard, 27 March 2016

The Quota Rush, Indian Express, 27 February 2016

As the Disadvantaged Rise, Those Above Push Back, Wall Street Journal India, 12 December 2012

 

Conferences, seminars, and policy panels (since 2015)

2022: Nordic Conference in Development Economics, Helsinki

2021 (online): Academy of Management (invited panel on Racial Justice and Organisations); International Economics Association (invited session); INET Young Scholars' Initiative South Asia (invited webinar); UNU-WIDER (invited seminar); Graduate Institute, Geneva (invited seminar)

 

2020 (cancelled/postponed due to Covid-19): CSAE Conference, Oxford; University of Exeter (invited seminar); International Economics Association, Indonesia (invited session)

2019: University of Kent (invited seminar); University College Dublin (invited seminar); Royal Economic Society Women's Mentoring Retreat, Warwick; Development Economics and Policy Conference, DIW Berlin; Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Copenhagen; Workshop on Social Economy for Young Economists, Bologna; DIAL Development Conference, Paris; Workshop on Labour and Family Economics, University of York; University of Nottingham (invited seminar); University of Reading (invited seminar). 

 

2018: ASSA Annual Meeting, Philadelphia (invited discussant); Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Helsinki.

 

2017: Leuven Education Economics Research Workshop, Leuven; HECER Labour Seminar, Helsinki (invited seminar); Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Gothenburg; International Economics Association World Congress, Mexico City; 4th DIAL Conference, Paris; 4th SITES-IDEAs Development Conference, Rome; NEUDC 2017, Tufts; Girls’ Education Research and Policy Symposium at Brookings, Washington, DC (invited panelist); Queen’s University Belfast; Newcastle University Business School.

 

2016: ASREC Europe, Copenhagen; UNU-WIDER Conference on Human Capital and Growth, Helsinki; Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Oslo; Women in Economics (WinE) Mentoring Retreat, Geneva; UNU-WIDER Conference on Responding to Crises (chair & session organizer); The Choice Lab Seminar, NHH Bergen (invited seminar).

 

2015: UNU-WIDER 30th anniversary conference (invited discussant); 3rd DIAL Conference, Paris; Nordic Conference on Development Economics, Copenhagen; 10th IZA/WB Conference on Employment and Development, Bonn; Midwest International Economic Development Conference, Madison; Royal Economic Society Conference, Manchester.

 

Teaching Experience

Newcastle University Business School

2021-22: Applied Economics (UG), Development Economics (UG), Dissertation supervision (UG)

2020-21: Applied Economics (UG), Development Economics (UG), Dissertation supervision (UG)

2019-20: European Economics (UG), Applied Economics (UG), Development Economics (UG), Economic Analysis (UG), Dissertation supervision (PG)

2018-19: European Economics (UG), Applied Economics (UG), Dissertation supervision (PG)

Helsinki Centre for Economic Research (HECER)

2015-18: Guest Lecturer for Development Economics (PG) 

2015: Co-supervisor, MA thesis by Emmi Hentila, Aalto University

PhD Supervision Experience

Completed:

Scott Kirkman (with John Wildman and James Law), graduated 2021, social mobility and risky behaviour

Ongoing:

Nichola Williams (with Sara Maioli), since 09/2018, health and education in Guyana

Liangxun Xie (with Nils Braakmann), since 10/2019, public sector and inequality in China

Alexandra Neill (with Diogo Souza Monteiro and Alex Hughes), since 09/2021, reducing food waste in the restaurant sector in North-East England

• Nordman CJ, Sharma S, Sunder N. Here Comes the Rain Again: Productivity Shocks, Educational Investments, and Child Work. Economic Development and Cultural Change 2022, epub ahead of print.
• Sharma S, Singhal S, Tarp F. Corruption and Mental Health: Evidence from Vietnam. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 2021, 185, 125-137.
• Markussen T, Sharma S, Singhal S, Tarp F. Inequality, Institutions and Cooperation. European Economic Review 2021, 138, 103842.
• Dasgupta U, Mani S, Sharma S, Singhal S. Effects of peers and rank on cognition, preferences and personality. Review of Economics and Statistics 2020, 104(3), 587–601.
• Nordman CJ, Sharma S. Pecuniary returns to working conditions in Vietnam. In: John Rand and Finn Tarp, ed. Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Vietnam. Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Dasgupta U, Mani S, Sharma S, Singhal S. Can gender differences in distributional preferences explain gender gaps in competition?. Journal of Economic Psychology 2019, 70, 1-11.
• Dasgupta U, Mani S, Sharma S, Singhal S. Internal and External Validity: Comparing Two Simple Risk Elicitation Tasks. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics 2019, 81, 39-46.
• Nordman CJ, Sarr LR, Sharma S. Skills, personality traits, and gender wage gaps: evidence from Bangladesh. Oxford Economic Papers 2019, 71(3), 687-708.
• Sharma S, Tarp F. Does managerial personality matter? Evidence from firms in Vietnam. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 2018, 150, 432-445.
• Sharma S, Tarp F. Female autonomy and women's welfare: An introduction. Review of Development Economics 2018, 22(4), 1385-1389.
• Deshpande A, Sharma S. Disadvantage and discrimination in self-employment: Caste gaps in earnings in small Indian businesses. Small Business Economics 2016, 46(2), 325-346.
• Sharma S. Caste-based crimes and economic status: Evidence from India. Journal of Comparative Economics 2015, 43(1), 204-226.
• Sharma S. Gender and distributional preferences: Experimental evidence from India. Journal of Economic Psychology 2015, 50, 113-123.
• Sharma S. Benefits of a registration policy for microenterprise performance in India. Small Business Economics 2014, 42(1), 153-164.
• Deshpande A, Sharma S. Entrepreneurship or survival? Caste and gender of small business in India. Economic and Political Weekly 2013, XLVIII(28), 38-49.